Topical programmes, key experts and inspirational speakers

Our unforgettable events give you more than knowledge
updates and information. You'll also have the opportunity to
network with others and to gain practical strategies you can
implement — so you can go back to your workplace, inspired
and re-energised to make a difference.

Previous Speakers

Dr Temple Grandin

Dr Temple Grandin is the most accomplished and well-known adult with autism in the world. A renowned professor of animal science at Colorado State University, bestselling author and international speaker on her pioneering work on animal welfare and on autism helping professionals and parents understand how to best support individuals with ASD. She is a unique individual that breaks the mold. Her autism does not define or limit her potential. Her example reminds us that each person, whether they have diagnosis of ASD or not, is unique, with talents waiting to be nurtured,

Professor Tony Attwood

Tony is a clinical psychologist who has specialised in autism spectrum disorders since he qualified as a clinical psychologist in England in 1975. He currently works in his own private practice, and is also adjunct professor at Griffith University, Queensland and senior consultant at the Minds and Hearts clinic in Brisbane.

Brenda Smith Myles

Internationally renowned expert on autism, Brenda is a superb and engaging speaker, has made over 3000 presentations world wide and written more than 300 articles and books on ASD. She was acknowledged as the second most productive applied researcher in ASD in the world and formely, professor in the Department of Special Education at the University of Kansas as well as the recipient of the Autism Society of America’s Outstanding Professional Award.

Peter Vermeulen

Dr Peter Vermeulen is an autism consultant, lecturer and trainer at Autism Central in Belgium. He has published more than 15 books and several articles on autism, including “Autism as context blindness”.

Dr Karen Treisman

Karen is a Highly Specialist Clinical Psychologist, author, and enthusiastic and engaging trainer. She has worked in the NHS and children’s services for several years and also cross-culturally in both Africa and Asia with groups ranging from former child soldiers to survivors of the Rwandan Genocide. Karen has extensive experience in the areas of trauma, parenting and attachment, and works clinically using a range of therapeutic approaches with families, systems and children in or on the edge of care, unaccompanied asylum-seeking young people, and adopted children. She regularly presents at local, national and international trauma, parenting and attachment conferences.

Pooky Knightsmith

An ambassador for mental health; who loves to research, write, teach and share all manner of ideas and practical strategies on mental health and well-being that work! Her enthusiasm is backed by a PhD in Child & Adolescent Mental Health and her own lived experiences of anorexia, self-harm, anxiety and depression. Pooky is the Director of the Children, Young People and Schools Programme at the Charlie Waller Memorial Trust.

Tony France

Tony has been working with vulnerable children and families for over 25 years, originally starting his career as a mental health social worker. Following five years in young people’s addiction services he went on to work internationally for the British council developing services for vulnerable children in South Africa, Nova Scotia and Sweden. He has worked as an advisor to Local Education Authorities, schools and charities.

Rosemary Tannock

Rosemary Tannock is Professor Emerita at the University of Toronto and continues as a Senior Scientist at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada. She held a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Special Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education in the University of Toronto from January 2006-February 2013. Her clinical research program, which focuses on the nature and treatment of cognitive and academic impairments in ADHD, has been funded continuously since 1990 from peer-reviewed Canadian and USA federal grants.

Helen Minnis

Helen Minnis is a Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Glasgow. She spent time working as an Orphanage Doctor in Guatemala in the early 1990s prior to training in Psychiatry, and this stimulated an interest in the effects of early maltreatment on children’s development. ‎Her research focus has been on Attachment Disorder: clinical aspects, assessment tools, and behavioural genetics.

Dr Tina Rae

Tina Rae is a Professional and Academic Tutor, University of East London. She specialises in social, emotional and behavioural disorders and difficulties. She has undertaken research in the areas of engagement and disaffection with learning in young people, debriefing following critical incidents, attachment disorders, emotional well being and the psychological assessment of young offenders. Rae is experienced in assessing children and young people with respect to learning difficulties, emotional well being and relationships with carers.

Bill Colley

Bill is a writer, teacher trainer, educational consultant and a recognised expert on ADHD with a real passion for the subject matter which is clearly demonstrated when he teaches. He spent much of his career in the independent sector before becoming the headmaster of residential special school. Bill contributes at a local level to an ADHD support group, the NHS Autism Assessment Pathway, and to the National Autism Strategy Reference Group (Scotland) and is also an advisor to Mindroom charity.

Bo Hejlskov Elvén

Bo Hejlskov Elvén is one of Europe’s leading clinical psychologist specialising in challenging behavior. Bo’s field is care and special education, mainly concerning children and adults with developmental disabilities such as autism, Asperger´s syndrome, ADHD or intellectual disabilities. Bo also works in the psychiatric field and in juvenile correction facilities.

The basis of Bo’s methods is developmental neuropsychology, stress and affect theory. The methods are part of an increasing knowledge base in the tradition often named the Low Arousal Approach

Dr Martin Hanbury

Martin is the Executive Headteacher of the Chatsworth Multi Academy Trust which is based in Salford and serves the needs of children and young adults who have learning difficulties. Martin has worked in the field of autism for over thirty years as a carer, teaching assistant, teacher and school leader and has helped develop provision for children, young people and young adults from across the autism spectrum.

Dr Iain McClure

Iain is an independent consultant child & adolescent psychiatrist based in Edinburgh, having worked as an NHS consultant in Scotland for almost 20 years. He chaired the SIGN guideline on ASD (SIGN 98 and 145) and has research interests in autism, early years mental health and trauma.

Professor Adam Ockelford

Adam Ockelford is Professor of Music and Director of the Applied Music Research Centre at the University of Roehampton, London. His research focus is on music psychology, in particular the development of special musical abilities in the contexts of blindness and autism - areas about which he has written widely and lectures all over the world.

Jim Taylor

Jim is an experienced professional in Autism having worked in the field for over 38 years. Currently working independently, he was formerly Director of Education, Scottish Autism. He is the Chair of the National Autistic Society’s Accreditation Standards Body, and advises a number of UK-wide Service Providers and Local Education Authorities.

Dr Luke Beardon

Luke Beardon is a member of staff in The Autism Centre at Sheffield Hallam University. He has been working as a practitioner providing support & consultancy in the field of autism and Asperger syndrome for around 20 years. Luke’s research interests are around individuals with autism who have broken the law.

Eileen Cummings

As Director of Education and Learning, Eileen studies both national and international best practice and evidence-based research to inform work at Kibble. Eileen also regularly contributes to, and participates in, national education and employability forums.

Jonny Matthew

Jonny’s passion is working to help children in crisis to recover and he also likes to inspire colleagues to do the same. As well as his employed work as a Practice Change Lead for the Youth Justice Board in Wales, and Harmful Sexual Behaviour Specialist for the All Wales Forensic CAMHS Service, Jonny is a freelance Consultant Social Worker & Criminologist.

Sorell Dowling

Fresh Start in Education

Sorrell has a background in psychology. For over 16 years she has worked with challenging and disengaged children and young people, within settings including Local Authorities, children’s homes and Youth Offending Teams. Sorrell believes that every young person should have the opportunity to reach their full potential.

Dan Johnson

Dan Johnson is a Forensic Psychologist and heads the psychology service at Kibble. He worked as a residential care worker prior to training in forensic psychology in the prison service. He is currently seconded to develop trauma informed care in Kibble and the wider sector and is a Visiting Researcher at the Centre for Youth and Criminal Justice (CYCJ) at the University of Strathclyde.

Andrew Black

Andrew has spent 40 years in teaching – 20 as a PE teacher and 20 as Headteacher of both Special and Mainstream schools. He is passionate about making a difference in the lives of children, young adults and teachers and has been doing lots of work since ‘retirement’ in schools, colleges and alternative provisions throughout the Country around the areas of ‘Positivity, behaviour and culture’.

Annie Smith

Annie Smith is a Senior Educational Psychologist with experience of working in 3 Local Education Authorities. She currently works for South Lanarkshire Council, where she has a specialist remit for Language and Communication. Annie has a long-standing interest in Solution Oriented Approaches and uses this as a framework for her work around Autism. Annie believes that understanding the psychology of Autism is key to providing effective education and support. This is the basis of her current work in South Lanarkshire Council, which aims to equip education staff with the competence and confidence to apply their professional creativity to meeting the needs of children with Autism.

David Rex

David Rex has a first degree in Chemistry and FoodScience, a Post Graduate Diploma in Nutrition andDietetics, and a Masters in Food Policy. He is aSpecialist Dietitian for Highland Council’s Care &Learning Directorate. He also has a lead public healthrole for Food & Health in schools, nurseries andChildren’s Residential Units; and for 14 years, hasbeen providing specialist dietetic advice for childrenwith Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and AttentionDeficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

Dick Moore

Dick has been an English teacher, rugby couch and headmaster, the latter for almost 23 years. Circumstances led to him developing a passion for adolescent emotional well-being, within an educational context. Dick is a qualified instructor for Youth Mental Health First Aid and trainer for the Charlie Waller Memorial Trust. he is a much sought after conference speaker and trainer throughout the UK and overseas.

Dr Alex Yellowlees

Alex is the former Director of Priory Hospital in Glasgow and Edinburgh and a Consultant Psychiatrist. He has wealth of experience in eating disorders and is widely published in this field. Alex speaks at numerous conferences, training courses and to the media; and will share with you his in-depth knowledge and understanding of eating disorders, delivered in his very easy to listen to manner.

Dr Christine Puckering

Christine Puckering is a clinical, forensic and neuro psychologist by training with a special interest in infant mental health. She has worked with parents and children both in clinical and academic roles.Christine has published in the area of infant mental health and been a key-note speaker at infant mental health conferences in the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Russia. She is co-author of the Mellow Bumps, Mellow Babies and Mellow Parenting programmes, a family of programmes designed to help parents build good relationships with their young children. She remains passionate about the importance of infancy for later good development across the life span and across all aspects of life.

Dr Lindsay Peer

Lindsay is a Charted Psychologist and Educational Psychologist, Lindsay is widely recognised as an expert in dyslexia, special educational needs and mainstream education. She has advised governments, lectured extensively internationally and has numerous publications to her name. She was previously the Deputy CEO of the British Dyslexia Association and has spent 20 years as a teacher.

Joy Beaney

Joy is an experienced teacher, autism specialist, university lecturer, trainer and has written many books on autism.

Kay Al Ghani

Kay is a bestselling international author, specialist advisory teacher, university lecturer, inclusion consultant and charismatic autism trainer, with over 40 years of experience in education.

Laura Beveridge

After spending 7 years within the care system as a looked after child, Laura decided her career choice had to be within the care system. Laura has worked in the care system as a Behaviour Support Assistant, Locum Residential Care Worker, Home & Parent Support Worker and Senior Residential Care Worker. In 2015, she became a Development Officer at Who Cares? Scotland, facilitating, organising and contributing to group work, events and other activities at local and national level. Her time at Who Cares? allowed her to become an active campaigner for the charity, speaking at various events.

Martin Crewe

Martin is Director of Barnardo’s Scotland which runs 140+ community-based services across Scotland supporting over 16,000 vulnerable children, young people and families. Martin was a member of the Scottish Government’s Ministerial Working Party on Child Sexual Exploitation and is now on the Violence Against Women & Girls Joint Strategic Board. Martin initially trained as a scientist and completed a PhD in Geochemistry. He also has an MBA and an MSc in Social Services Management. Martin has worked for a trade union, the National Health Service and charities both big and small. He has over 30 years’ experience of working for children’s charities.

Nicola Morgan

Nicola is an author and public speaker on many aspects of adolescence, teenage brain changes, stress, wellbeing, the effects of life online and the reading brain. She is the author of over 100 books, including award-winners and best-sellers. In 2018, the School Library Association gave Nicola an award for Outstanding Contribution to Information Books.

Patricia Jackson

Stephanie Guidera

Stephanie is an International classical signer and Patron of the Dyspraxia Association

Geoff Evans

Geoff is an International Trainer and Consultant in Autism and has worked with children with autism, adults and their families for thirty-five years. Formerly Head of Social Services with the National Autistic Society and Senior Lecturer in autism at Sheffield University. Geoff’s training has been described as inspirational and very practical.

Anna Kennedy

Anna is a mother of two autistic sons, UK Autism Ambassador, founder of UK Autism Charity ‘Anna Kennedy Online’, author of ‘Not Stupid’, finalist BBC Peoples Strictly 2015 and founder Autism Got Talent UK. Anna is passionate about supporting autistic individuals, to this end she has established two schools, a college, a respite home and a website with over 50,000 international followers and campaigns tirelessly.

Dr Roger Banks

Dr Roger Banks is a Consultant in the Psychiatry of Learning Disability. He has 27 years of experience in the field and has worked in Sheffield, Liverpool and North Wales, where he is also Honorary Senior Lecturer at Bangor University.

Naveed Sattar

Naveed Sattar, FMedSci, FRCPath, FRCPGlas, FRSE, is a Scottish medical researcher and Professor of Metabolic Medicine at the Institute of Cardiovascular & Medical Sciences at the University of Glasgow, as well as an Honorary Consultant in Metabolic Medicine at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary.

Dr Robert Lindsay

Robert Lindsay graduated in Medicine at the University of Edinburgh in 1988 and is Reader in the BHF Cardiovascular Research Centre (Western Infirmary, University of Glasgow). He completed his PhD in fetal programming in Edinburgh in 1997 and postdoctoral work with the diabetes epidemiology group of the National Institutes of Health in Phoenix, Arizona. His principal research interests are early life and genetic determinants of diabetes with particular interest in diabetes and pregnancy. Dr Lindsay is the endocrine lead for the combined endocrine/ obstetric antenatal clinic at Princess Royal Maternity Unit and also practices general medicine and endocrinology at the Western Infirmary of Glasgow.

Mike Lean

Mike Lean MA, MB, BChir, FRCP (Edinb), FRCPS (Glasgow), FRSE holds the Glasgow University chair of Human Nutrition, based at Glasgow Royal Infirmary, where he is also a consultant physician with NHS responsibilities for an acute medical ward and emergency receiving duties. He has held Visiting and Adjunct Professorships at the Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen; the University of Otago, New Zealand (currently) and at University of Sydney, Australia (also currently). He has been a non-executive director of the Health Education Board of Scotland for 8 years, and chaired the Food Standards Agency Advisory Committee on Research. He was awarded the Rank Nutrition lectureship by Diabetes UK in 2013; the Tenovus Medal in 2017 and elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2018.

Jason Gill

Jason Gill is Professor of Cardiometabolic Health (Institute of Cardiovascular & Medical Sciences) University of Glasgow. He is a past Chair of the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES) Division of Physical Activity for Health and a member of the development groups for the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) guidelines for the prevention and treatment of obesity and for prevention of cardiovascular disease. He is the Director of the MSc programme in Sport and Exercise Science & Medicine, and also play an active role in communicating the science of physical activity, diet, obesity and cardio-metabolic risk to the widest possible audience including a number of appearances on TV documentaries and organisation of Understanding of Science events for the general public.

Angie Hart

Angie is the Academic Director of the award winning Community University Partnership Programme at the University of Brighton. As part of that role, she is the Brighton lead for the Higher Education Council for England-funded South East Coastal Communities Programme. She is also Professor of Child, Family and Community Health in the School of Nursing and Midwifery in the Faculty of Health and Social Science. She teaches professional courses for health and social care practitioners and undertakes participatory research into inequalities in health and social care in relation to children and families.

Chris Moon

Chris is a former British Army Officer with three years operational experience. His training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and experiences as an Army officer provided a world-class grounding in leadership, motivation and personal and team development. He left to work for a charity clearing landmines in Asia & Africa. In 1995 he was blown up in a supposedly safe area of a minefield in remote East Africa losing an arm and a leg. Within a year of leaving hospital he ran the London Marathon, raised significant sums to help disabled people in the developing world, worked to ban landmines and successfully completed a full time Masters Degree.

Jonathan Wood

Jonathan has worked as a therapist in the field of mental health for thirty years. He trained as a psychotherapist and art therapist, and also has an MBA. He has worked with Place2Be – an organisation that puts counselling and therapeutic services into schools – as Head of Service for Scotland and Wales for 12 years.

Dean Beadle is public speaker who shares his experiences of life as an autistic person and is also a journalist and patron and honorary president to several autism charities.

Professor Barry Carpenter

In a career spanning more than 30 years, Barry has held the leadership positions of Headteacher, Principal, Academic Director, Chief Executive, Inspector of Schools, Director of the Centre for Special Education at Westminster College and the UK’s first Professorship in Mental Health in Education, at Oxford Brookes University. He is an Honorary Professor at universities in Ireland, Germany and Australia and lectures nationally and internationally. He is also the author of over 150 articles and many texts on a range of learning disability/special needs topics. Barry has been awarded an OBE and CBE for his services to children with Special Needs.

Professor Rita Jordan

Rita is an Emeritus Professor in Autism Studies, The University of Birmingham. After completing her Psychology degree. Rita taught in mainstream, special and specialist autism schools and later launched and ran a ‘playgroup’ and toy library for children with Autism or severe Learning Difficulties. She then went on to complete further qualifications, obtaining an MSc in Child Development. Rita became a research officer at the Institute of Education in London, and a Deputy Principal of school for children with autism. Since then Rita has developed and run a range of programmes in autism studies and been involved in training events, consultations and conferences internationally. In 2007 she was awarded an OBE for her services to special needs education.

Antony Meade

Antony is the Managing Director for Fresh Start in Education. Having been a foster carer and set up an Independent Fostering Agency, Antony set up Fresh Start in Education to provide Engagement and Education Packages for young people struggling to access formal education.

Dr Tricia Skuse

Tricia is a Senior Clinical Psychologist with the All Wales Forensic Adolescent Consultation andTreatment Service (FACTS) and clinical lead for the Enhanced Case Management Project - acollaboration between FACTS and the Wales Youth Justice Board applying the Trauma Recovery Modelto youth justice. She is an experienced trainer and presents throughout the UK and internationally.Tricia also provides freelance consultancy and supervision to local authorities, charities and theprivate sector.

Sophie Andrews

Sophie is the Chief Executive of The Silver Line Helpline, a national charity she founded with Dame Esther Rantzen in 2012, that provides 24/7 support for lonely and isolated older people. Sophie began her career in the corporate sector working for Cable and Wireless and Marks and Spencer before moving into social care and managing older people’s services within social housing. She then moved to NSPCC where she had responsibility for volunteering within the ChildLine service. Alongside her professional career she has volunteered for Samaritans for over 25 years and was their national Chair between 2008-2011. Sophie received recognition for this by being awarded the title - Voluntary Sector Achiever of the Year in 2012 and was awarded an OBE in the 2017 New Year’s Honours list.

Caroline Hurst

Caroline has been working at Childnet for six years and leads on The Childnet Digital Leaders Programme. She works alongside the Education Team, managing the delivery of their Activity Days in schools to young people, parents, carers and staff. With a background in informal education, Caroline has had a wealth of experience in the education sector teaching abroad both in Paris and Ghana. Since September 2015 she has been the Project Manager for the Digital Leaders Programme where she is responsible for developing the subject content on the platform and developing youth engagement on the site, she is the main point of contact for the programme.

Robin Balbernie

Robin Balbernie is currently clinical director of PIP UK, a national charity dedicated to help establish parent-infant projects across the United Kingdom. For over a decade, beginning with the Sure Start programme, he worked with the Children’s Centres in the county as clinical lead of the team providing an infant mental health service, known locally and nationally as ‘Secure Start’. He was also involved with the Intensive Baby Care Unit at Gloucester Royal Hospital and ran supervision groups for Health Visitors for over 25 years. He is an advisor to the Association of Infant Mental Health and was a member of the Young Minds’ Policy and Strategy Advisory Group.

Tommy MacKay

Professor Tommy MacKay is recognised as one of the UK’s leading psychologists. Tommy works across the fields of educational and child psychology, health psychology, clinical neuropsychology, psychotherapy, teaching and research, and has won many honours and awards. Tommy MacKay is also an expert witness, covering child and adult cases, both civil and criminal.

Gina Davies

Gina is a qualified Speech and Language Therapist who turned her passion for communication development into practical and joyful intervention strategies for parents and professionals dealing with autism. She has worked with hundreds of autistic children in schools, nurseries and residential settings, and directly with parents, carers and families.

Robyn Steward

Robyn has Asperger syndrome as well as nine other disabilities. She attended mainstream school and is passionate about helping other people have better school experiences than she did. Robyn, has built up her business to high acclaim and travels around the world helping teachers, adult support workers and social workers understand more about Autism. In 2015 Robyn joined the department of health’s autism programme board as an advocate for 2 years and at the NAS professional awards 2015 Robyn was awarded the award for “outstanding achievement by an individual on the autism spectrum”.

Maria Naranjo

Maria is a Consultant at The Mind’s Well Recovery College, which aims to reduce the need to resortto self-harming behaviours. She trained as a Psychotherapist in Spain and she obtained a MScin Cognitive Science by Edinburgh University. Maria has worked in the field of mental healthin Scotland for over a decade. In a national charity she worked as Self Harm Co-ordinator andgained valuable experience and knowledge of the issues affecting people who engage on self-harming behaviours and those who look after them, professionally or personally.

Louise Bomber

Louise is an internationally renowned expert in the field of education andattachment; she is a qualified teacher and therapist, trainer and writer. Louise is the author of‘Inside I’m Hurting’, ‘What About Me’, ‘Teachers & Attachment’ and ‘Settling Troubled Pupils toLearn: Why Relationships matter in School’, in collaboration with Dan Hughes. She has workedin a range of organisations including schools, with individual pupils, classes, whole schoolsettings, teachers and support staff across both the primary and secondary schools as well asworking with social services and health. Louise has also worked with street children in Bolivia.Her curiosity, passion, experiences and training have enabled her to get alongside troubledpupils in schools in creative ways, enabling them to make the most of all that education has to offer.

Elena Papageorgiou

Elena is an established trainer, CBT and Person Centred Therapist with 10 years expertise working in the field of Eating Disorders. As the lead therapist in the Specialist Eating Disorder Unit for the Priory Hospital Glasgow, her previous experience includes child and adolescent mental health. Elena has facilitated workshops within the education sector for suicide and self-harm with particular interest in the co-morbid presentation of eating disorders and the treatment of this.

Andrew Horne

Andrew has worked in, and managed substance misuse services for over 30 years in Ireland, England and Scotland. He has helped create some of the countries most innovative and complex services to best suit the needs of people with drink and drug problems. Andrew is passionate about developing services where the service user is at the heart of their own recovery and where recovery is not only possible but real.

Emma Crawshaw

Emma Crawshaw is CEO of Crew, and award-winning national charity reducing harm from psycho-active substance use through advice, peer education, outreach, care and specialist counselling/recovery. Emma is committed to increasing and sharing evidence, knowledge and understanding to empower people to make more informed choices and reduce harm.

Tony McDaid

Tony is currently Head of Education (Curriculum and Quality) for South Lanarkshire Council, a post he took up in April 2013. Previously, he was head teacher of Calderglen High School in East Kilbride. In his time as head teacher, Calderglen High School was recognised by Her Majesty’s Inspectors of Education for its vision and the delivery of, a Curriculum for Excellence. Inspectors acknowledged the excellent innovative teaching approaches and use of technology; the invaluable contribution of partnerships and innovation; the school’s holistic approach to health and wellbeing and the impact of leadership at all levels across the school.

Dr Joan Mowat

Dr Mowat joined the School of Education at the University of Strathclyde in 2005 after a lengthy career in teaching, latterly as Depute Head at Vale of Leven Academy in West Dunbartonshire. Her principal research interests are the inclusion of children and young people with social, emotional and behavioural needs and leadership.

Jan Lever

Jan Lever spent 16 years as a teacher working with 3-18 year olds before becoming a local authority adviser specialising in Religious Education and Health and Well-being, running training and leading school development projects in 100s of schools, for over a decade. Jan has always been passionate about improving children and young people’s emotional literacy and mental health, believing vehemently that this enhances their learning capacity and improves their life chances.

Dr Tony Bates

Dr Tony Bates is the Founding Director and CEO of Headstrong – Ireland’s National Centre for Youth Mental Health. Prior to establishing Headstrong, Tony worked as Principal Clinical Psychologist at St James’s Hospital in Dublin. Since founding Headstrong in 2006, he and his colleagues have been committed in changing how Ireland thinks about youth mental health. He believes that “people who find the inner power to come through the really hard times often become more fully alive than those who have never experienced the depths of suffering”.

Rory O'Connor

Rory O’Connor is Professor of Health Psychology at the University of Glasgow in Scotland and President of the International Academy of Suicide Research. He is a registered health psychologist who is broadly interested in self-regulation and health outcomes. Rory leads the Suicidal Behaviour Research Laboratory at Glasgow, the leading suicide/self-harm research group in Scotland. He has published extensively in the field of suicide and self-harm, specifically concerning the psychological processes which precipitate suicidal behaviour and self-harm. He is the co-author of Understanding Suicidal Behaviour (with Noel Sheehy, 2000) and co-editor of the International Handbook of Suicide Prevention (with Steve Platt & Jacki Gordon, 2011) and the Routledge Major Works series on Suicide (with Keith Hawton, 2012).

Caroline Harroe

Caroline is the Manager and co-founder of user-led organisation Harmless whose work has received large national acclaim in the receipt of many awards including the equivalent of an MBE. After a long self-harming and mental health history Caroline battled her way to recovery and now also works as a specialist psychotherapist within the service. Currently studying for her PhD at Nottingham University, Caroline’s drive is to challenge and influence the field of self harm and suicide by improving interventions, provision and accessibility for vulnerable individuals who are at risk of harming themselves. Her work is varied and includes passionate public speaking, the delivery of accredited training packages, designing and delivering packages of care and providing the vulnerable with a voice.

Angela Voulgari

Angela has studied and worked in Edinburgh since 2001. She is trained in Psychology and Counselling and has worked in the third sector supporting people experiencing mental health problems in the community. Angela started working for Penumbra’s Edinburgh Self Harm Project in 2011, first as a peer worker and then as a part-time project worker. She has lived experience of self harm and recovery and as a result is a firm believer that everyone has the potential to overcome adversity and deal with life’s difficulties in a proactive and positive way. Her work remit is not only to support people who self harm on a one-to-one basis, but to also provide training sessions and awareness raising in educational and community settings to build the public’s capacity to understand, recognise and support people in their own environments.

Susan Ringwood

After initially training as a teacher, Susan has spent more than 30 years working in the charity sector. She became Beat’s Chief Executive September 2002. Susan was a member of the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence guideline development group for the treatment of Eating Disorders. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Eating Disorders and Chaired the Academy’s Patient and Carers’ Committee. She led the development of the World Wide Charter for Action on Eating Disorders, and was the 2008 recipient of the AED Meehan/Hartley award of Leadership in Advocacy and Public Service.

Tam Baillie

Tam Baillie has worked as a manager and practitioner with children and young people for 30 years, primarily with young offenders; young people in and leaving care; and young homeless people. Tam has worked in Scotland and England and in both the statutory and voluntary sectors. He worked as the Director of Policy for Barnardo’s Scotland from 2003 and worked extensively on children’s policy and rights issues. In May 2009, Tam took up the post of Scotland’s Commissioner for Children and Young People. As the Commissioner, Tam’s remit is: to have regard to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child; to encourage the involvement of children and young people in the work of the Commissioner; and to promote and safeguard the rights of children and young people in Scotland.

Dr Claire Stubbs

Claire began her career as a youth worker in East Sussex as she felt passionate about supporting young people to overcome barriers in their lives and to offer them a different experience. Claire built on this passion through the management of health services targeting disadvantaged young people within East Sussex. With an interest in people and wanting to develop her skills and knowledge, Claire pursued training in Counselling Psychology and Psychotherapy. She now has ten years’ experience working with young people in a psychotherapeutic capacity, supporting young people to work through a range of issues including addictions, self-harming, relationships, loss, bereavement, anxiety and depression.

Professor John J Reilly

John J Reilly (BSc PhD) is Professor of Physical Activity & Public Health Science at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. He was previously Professor of Paediatric Energy Metabolism at the University of Glasgow. His research on children and adolescents focuses on: the prevention of obesity; the effects of physical activity (including effects on cognition and educational attainment); the development and health effects of sedentary behaviour (sitting, screen-time); Knowledge Translation in these areas, including the Active Healthy Kids Scotland Report Card 2013. He is an editor of the journal Paediatric Obesity. He chaired the working group for the development of UK guidelines on Physical Activity for the Early Years (Start Active Stay Active 2011), and was a working group member on the ‘Start Active Stay Active’ guideline for school-aged children and adolescents.

Chris O'Sullivan

Chris O’Sullivan is Policy and Development Manager for the Mental Health Foundation, leading a team of staff delivering programmes across a range of mental health themes. Chris has a longstanding interest in the potential of the internet to be a power for good in mental health, leading Scotland’s first major event on the internet and mental health in 2011 and participating in and designing several innovation events on this theme since. In previous roles Chris has worked for Scotland’s national anti-stigma programme ‘see me’, Bipolar Scotland and the National Union of Students.

Dr Jacqui Ashton Smith

Jacqui Ashton Smith is Executive Director of Education: National Autistic Society. Jacqui is a qualified teacher with post graduate qualification in education, special needs and autism. She has a MBA (Masters of Business Administration) in Educational Management. Jacqui is a Principal trainer for The National Autistic Society and delivers training nationally and internationally on autism and education related issues. She has presented papers on autism, education, transition, person centred planning and autism specific quality assurance at three World Congresses: Australia, South Africa and Mexico and she is an Associate Tutor for the Christchurch University, Canterbury delivering ‘First time with autism’, a training package for mainstream teachers.

Denise Connelly

Denise Connelly is Hospitality, Tourism and Events Manager at Zero Waste Scotland and offers advice and support for the industry to improve resource efficiency. Since 2010, following a career in manufacturing and strategy consultancy, she has worked with the food, drink and hospitality sectors to reduce the amount of waste produced, particularly food and packaging waste, and to recycle more. She manages a programme of support for the sector that includes online advice and tools, a technical helpline and individual specialist support services and provides specific advisory assistance to Scottish signatories of the UK Hospitality and Food Service Agreement.

Jackie McCabe

Jackie McCabe is The Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland (REHIS) Director of Training.Jackie started her career in the Health Service as a manager of support services and undertook further studies within the Health Service Graduate Management Scheme.After a break to travel overseas, Jackie decided to take on a new challenge. She went back to study at Fife College and graduated as Chartered Member of the Institute of Personnel and Development. Jackie concentrated her career purely in the learning and development field and joined C J Lang in 1999 as their Training Manager. Jackie was responsible for designing and delivering training to meet the needs of the business which involved all aspects of compliance training and the development of an in-house management development programme which she had accredited by the Institute of Leadership and Management. Jackie was responsible for the design and delivery of this programme and was delighted when it won the Supreme Award at the National Industry Training Awards, London in 2009.

Garry Allan

Garry is currently Head of Department at New College Lanarkshire, Motherwell Campus and has been in the Education sector for the best part of 32 years. He started his career as a chef and has worked as a chef lecturer at the Glasgow College of Food Technology, Reid Kerr College and Kilmarnock College before joining Motherwell College in 2006. An exam setter for SQA, Garry also works with education Scotland and has close links with the Food Manufacturing sector as part of his role in New College Lanarkshire.

Andrew Niven

Andrew is Insights Manager for Scotland Food & Drink. He moved to his current role from MediaCom, one of the world’s largest communication agency groups, where he headed up the Consumer Insights division of the Scotland office. He has spent the majority of his career to date researching consumer habits, analysing market intelligence and forecasting future trends for companies both large and small, from the UK to Australia.

Fintan O'Regan

Fin is one of the leading behaviour and learning experts in the UK and Europe. He was the Head teacher of the Centre Academy from 1996 -2002, the first specialist school in the UK for students between the ages of 7-19 specialising in issues related to ADHD, ASD and ODD. He is currently a Behaviour and Learning Consultant and Trainer for a number of educational and commercial organisations both nationally and internationally. He is an associate lecturer for Leicester University, the National Association of Special Needs, the Institute of Education and the Helen Arkell Dyslexia Centre, Vice Chairman of the UK ADHD Network and a board member of the European ADHD Alliance. Fintan is the author of several books and has published articles on the subjects of ADHD, Behaviour and Learning issues.

Susan McGinnis

Susan McGinnis was coordinator of children and young people’s counselling projects and training at the Counselling Unit, University of Strathclyde from 2002-2013 and continues to work as a counsellor for young people in school settings. She is an active researcher, a member of COSCA’s Children and Young People Standing Policy Group and was a member of the Expert Reference Group for the development of the CAMHS competences for NHS Education Scotland. Susan has a special interest in working therapeutically with children and young people with behavioural needs as well as an expertise in ethics and child law as it relates to therapy. As a trainer, she is committed to developing and communicating non-directive theory and practice as a therapeutic approach with children and young people.

Sheena MacGregor

Sheena is a part-time Lecturer in Art Psychotherapy, MSc in Art Psychotherapy at Queen Margaret University. Her research areas encompass Group Analytic Art Psychotherapy with Children in an In-patient Psychiatric Setting and art Therapy with children with Chronic Health Conditions. She has used her expertise within her field to contribute to multiple seminars and publications on the benefits of art therapy for children who face emotional, mental and physical difficulties and has been involved with the publication of two books regarding health and well being of young people and children in difficult environments.

Michael Bready

Michael Bready is the founder and director of Youth Mindfulness, a Glasgow-based social enterprise dedicated to teaching mindfulness to children, teenagers and young adults. He is the author of the Youth Mindfulness Kids Programme and has led the development of a mindfulness programme for young offenders in collaboration with the University of Glasgow and the Scottish Prison Service. He holds degrees from the University of St. Andrew’s, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Aberdeen.

Dr Iain Henderson

Since 2000, Dr Henderson has been the Scottish representative for the Primary Care Dermatology Society. The society’s aim is to raise awareness of dermatology in Primary Care through educational meetings and their website and is one of the organisers of the Annual Scottish Meeting. He is the Primary Care Advisor for Skin Care Campaign Scotland, represents primary care and NES on the Cross Party Working Group on Skin Conditions and Associated Rheumatic Diseases and West of Scotland Skin Cancer MCN.

Jim Pearson

Jim Pearson has been with Alzheimer Scotland for 15 years and is currently the Director of Policy and Research. Jim is responsible for all of Alzheimer Scotland’s national and international public policy engagement and research activities. He has a background in welfare rights, and is particularly interested promoting a human rights based approach to the support, care and treatment available to people with dementia and those who care for them. Jim recently completed a Masters degree in Business Administration and is currently a member of the Alzheimer Europe Board.

Barbara Sharp

Following 18 years nursing and nurse teaching in the NHS, where she specialised in the care of older people, Barbara joined Alzheimer Scotland in 1990 to establish their first support service in Glasgow for people with dementia, their families and friends. Barbara has worked in a variety of roles with Alzheimer Scotland - service manager, regional manager, heading up a national practice development team and most recently joining the organisation’s policy team. For the last 5 years Barbara has been part of the training team of Scotland’s national dementia champions, in partnership with colleagues at the University of West of Scotland (UWS) and she works closely with Alzheimer Scotland’s network of Dementia Nurse Consultants and AHP Dementia Consultant colleagues.

Sarah Laing

Sarah Laing is a singer and actress based in Edinburgh. She began performing at a young age, taking part in various productions while at school and also in amateur dramatics societies. Sarah graduated from University with a BA Honours degree in Musical Theatre in 2014. While at university Sarah created a show called ‘The Music of Doris Day’ which she performed for the residents of several care homes in Edinburgh. She feels very passionately about performing to this type of audience and wanted to bring musical theatre to them. Since leaving university Sarah is now regularly performing in care homes in Edinburgh and beginning to move further afield. In addition to performing in care homes, Sarah took her show The Music of Doris Day to the Big Burns Supper Festival in Dumfries in January of this year.

Richard Leckerman

Richard hasworked in the mental health arena for over 30 years, in a variety of settings having worked in Government, managed a Care Home and being involved in the Scottish Prison Service. He has a keen interest in ‘suicide prevention’ and was Choose Life co-ordinator for Renfrewshire when the strategy was introduced. Additionally, Richard works with Breathing Space (NHS 24) confidential telephone service and enjoys training and teaching others. In 2011, he was a recipient of the “National Unsung Hero” award in recognition of his work within the mental health profession.

Jane Friswell

Since June 2013, Jane has worked for ‘nasen’ firstly as an Education Development Officer then the Chief Executive. Prior to this she was a Professional Educational Consultant and she has over 15 years experience of headship and senior leadership experience within primary special schools and SEND support service sectors. Jane has extensive experience in teaching with nearly 30 years teaching and leading experience within special and mainstream schools. She has delivered training independently and for nasen including leading and delivering national training for SENCO’s and School Leaders and has delivered presentations at key educational events both nationally and internationally.

Stuart Moffat

Twenty years ago Stuart launched his own National Training and Auditing Company ‘Raising Standards’. The Raising Standards’ team deliver not only compliance training, but also a range of topics including management, team building, leadership and communications. He enjoys training teachers and learning assistants who are taking our children from their early learning to finding jobs, launching careers and building lives. Raising Standards are extremely proud of their employability and personal development programmes. Their ‘Catering Academy’ caters for schools and community projects and is not just about the cooking as they believe confidence, self belief and key life skills are also part of the recipe for success.

Aqualma Murray

Aqualma has international experience in social work and has been in the social work field for over twenty five years. She has worked with a wide range of client groups from varied ages and ethnicities. Aqualma started her career in the residential sector, working with disabilities and then specialising with young people in care. She has worked in area offices as a child protection social worker and has specialised with children and adults who have experienced sexual abuse. She has managed a Youth Offender team, Secure Children’s home and been a service manager in a secure training centre. More recently, she has worked as a Local authority Designated Child Protection Officer (LADO) and a training and community partnership officer for a large London Local Authority, where she addresses allegations against professionals and ensures that faith and community groups are equipped to safeguard children in their care.